Roger Eno – Between Tides

The intimate moods found on Roger´s excellent debut “Voices” are continued on “Between Tides”, though it musically connects to contemporary chamber music simultaneously.

While having Michael Brook producing the full record, the composer made it a collection of sparse, piano-only tracks (such as the title piece) along classical, more elaborate, string-enriched pieces in which the minimalist Satie-approach still shines through.

Don´t be put off though by the first piece, “Dust at Dawn”, a cowboy-western orchestral tune in Morricone-tradition that as such is nice, but totally out of place here. On the other 12 tracks, the bare and deceptively simple melody of Roger´s miniatures seems to fall into two slots: the minimalist on one side and the orchestral on the other. The minimalist work is heard on pieces such as “Prelude for St. Joan” and “Autumn”, that rely on fragile strings to advance what at first seems to be either fragmentary or subliminal melodies.

The contemplative outcome on this album will be up your alley if you appreciate the delicate beauty and intimacy found in Tim Story’s fine works “The Perfect Flaw” or “Beguiled”. Most of all, “Between Tides” airs the simple beauty of small ensemble work and its orchestral colors, fitting into a collection of small pieces of about four or five minutes each.

Although the cd went out of print in the ’90’s and was hard to find for a long time, it is planned for re-released on Warp Records.